Days of Blunder
"Days of Blunder" is the eleventh episode of the first season of ''The Replacements''. Synopsis Todd enters a Downhill Derby race, where the grand prize is a Gamecone 4. Todd temporarily replaces Dick with an ace mechanic after Dick builds a shoddy-looking cart. Plot Riley watches a commercial for the Gamecone 4. It is pretty much the same as the last Gamecone. The commercial instructs kids to tell their parents, “if you love me, you’ll buy me a Gamecone 4.” Riley wonders who would fall for that. In the kitchen, Todd throws his Gamecone 3 in the trash and does exactly what the commercial told him to. Agent K refuses because they just bought Todd a Gamecone 3. Todd walks down the street when he spots Jacobo working on a Downhill Derby racer with his dad. The big race is next week. Todd thinks Downhill Derby racing is lame. That is, until Jacobo says the winner gets a Gamecone 4. Todd and his father get to work building a Downhill Derby racer. Dick thinks he can use duct tape for everything. Riley offers to help, but Todd declines because she’s a girl. The final product is a hideous racer made of wood and duct tape. There are a lot of leftover parts, yet Dick installed a toaster. When Todd takes the car on a test drive, the wheels immediately fall apart. Buzz passes by in his Downhill Derby car and makes fun of Todd. Then Todd’s car explodes. Todd places a call to Fleemco. He wants to temporarily replace Dick with a professional mechanic. Fleemco invites Dick to perform a stunt show for the Queen of England. Dick wants to turn it down because he has plans with his son. Todd hastily kicks his father out himself. The replacement is ace mechanic Rusty Cargill. Todd shows Rusty the remains of his Downhill Derby car. Todd cracks a sexist joke about Riley, causing her to ditch Todd. Then, Rusty introduces Todd to his pit crew. Todd wants to help, but Rusty asks him to watch over a hammer. Todd spends a long time staring at it. He sarcastically asks if a hammer-stealing burglar will take the hammer, then he walks out on Rusty. Ironically, there really is a hammer-stealing burglar. Todd asks his mother for advice. He sees she’s a cardboard cutout and her voice is coming from a tape recorder. He finds a note saying she’s in her safe room working on a project, meaning Todd is on his own. When Todd walks down the block, he sees the neighborhood kids bonding with their dads. Todd wistfully reminisces about working with his father. Todd calls Fleemco to replace Rusty back; Conrad tells Todd he can return Rusty, but Todd won’t have anyone to help with the racer. That night, Todd looks at his fancy new Downhill Derby racer. Dick Daring crash lands into Todd’s car. He walked out on the Queen to spend time with his son. While Mr. Daring was warming up for his stunt, he saw a prince and his mother working on a soapbox racer. Todd and his father start fixing the car with duct tape. On the day of the big race, Todd’s car is back to the condition it was in before Rusty Gargill came along. Buzz taunts Todd about his shabby-looking car. Buzz, being the person that he is, decides to cheat. First, he switches the arrows to point the wrong way. Then, he squirts oil onto the track, causing the other racers to spin out. Todd dodges the oil slick. Then Buzz uses a buzz saw to cut Todd’s car in half. Todd manages to fix his car with duct tape. Todd and Buzz are neck-and-neck and it looks to be a photo finish. Unexpectedly, a mystery competitor makes a last-second pass to win the race. That competitor happens to be Riley. She built her own Downhill Derby racer with Agent K because Todd wouldn’t let her help. Riley wins a Gamecone 4—Todd’s only reason for entering the race—and plans to use it as a paperweight. Todd seethes with anger, but he quickly calms down, as building the racer with his father was a lot more fun. Notes *The episode's title references the 1990 film [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Days_of_Thunder Days of Thunder]. Category:Episodes Category:Season One